Human memory is often all too fallible—as such, many people frequently forget things that they intend to do, and often find it hard to recall the details around what has been previously done. Of course, for those with clinically diagnosed memory disorders—which are by their nature more severe than those found in the average population—these issues are particularly troublesome. One example of such a disorder is acquired brain injury, which occurs either through a disease with lasting effect on brain tissue, or a traumatic incident like a car accident. Another example, perhaps of more significance in an aging population, is neurodegenerative disease which is essentially an illness which damages the brain such that there is no possibility of recovery. Probably, the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease is Alzheimer's disease.
As stated above, two broad categories of conditions that cause memory loss or a decrease in memory retention in humans are neurodegenerative diseases and acquired or traumatic brain injury. To date, medical advances have shown very limited success in treating either of these categories of conditions. For example, attempts have been made to employ external memory aids to assist in treatment. However, these attempts have also been extremely limited in their success.
Neurodegenerative disease refers to a condition that affects brain function. More particularly, neurodegenerative diseases often result from a deterioration of neurons in the brain. There are many known neurodegenerative diseases and conditions that affect memory function. Alzheimer's disease and Lewy Body dementia are but two well known neurological diseases. Although recent medical advances have yielded limited success in treating these two diseases with medication, no medical treatment has been proven to assist in addressing memory loss prompted by these diseases as well as other known dementias.
One of the most common acquired brain injuries is amnesia which refers to a condition where the memory is disturbed. Amnesia can be caused in a number of ways including, trauma, disease and drug/alcohol use. Additionally, amnesia can be spontaneous, e.g., transient global amnesia, which is most common in middle-aged to elderly people. Unfortunately, to date, there are not any effective medical treatments available for acquired brain injuries such as amnesia. Rather, treatment for amnesia is often related to the root cause of the injury. Sedation, affection, psychiatric treatment, hypnosis and abstinence (in the case of drug/alcohol related) are examples of ways to cope with amnesia today.
The effects of acquired brain injuries, neurodegenerative diseases and aging in general vary greatly from patient to patient. In a relatively moderate form, there may be little noticeable effect—perhaps a patient will be frustrated from time-to-time at their inability to organize themselves as well as in the past. At a more extreme level, a patient may suffer from a near complete inability to remember. Patients with moderate to severe memory problems may fail to remember future intentions, such as buying milk, or making and keeping appointments (e.g., prospective memory).
Prospective memory problems clearly have a large impact on the ability of a patient to look after themselves on a day-to-day basis. A failure of past (e.g., retrospective) memory, however, and in particular episodic or autobiographical memory (e.g., the memory of things the patient has done, as opposed to their semantic memory for factual information) is actually critical for a patient to enjoy any real quality of life. This is firstly because nearly all future actions are based on past experiences, so practical day-to-day planning is very difficult when autobiographical memory is impaired. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, a memory of past experiences is critical to a patient's ‘self-concept’. For example, without a memory of shared experiences it is very hard to maintain any kind of relationship, whether it is professional, social or personal. This in turn frequently affects the patient's self-esteem, which can have significant effects on their well-being.